AT&T and General Electric (GE) have unveiled plans to add cameras, microphones and sensors to more than 3,000 street lights in San Diego, making the first large-scale use of “smart city” tools.

The system will allow street lights to monitor traffic, crowd sizes, weather and even notify authorities of gunshots in the area.

“Our digital network is based on an open platform, which allows entrepreneurs*, incubators* and students to get involved in the future development smart city applications,” said John Gordon, chief digital officer of Current, powered by GE.

AT&T revealed the smart city framework in January 2016, which uses the Internet of Things* to create solutions for cities and helps form alliances* with technology leaders and industry organizations.

The firms plan to add sensing nodes on top of the light poles to create the futuristic* system, which will be programmed to locate gunshots, estimate crowd sizes, check vehicle speeds and more.

GE will include a US$30 million LED* (light emitting diode) lighting upgrade to 14,000 of San Diego’s street lights.(SD-Agencies)